The Supreme Court has directed for making the mechanism related to motor accident claims consumer friendly with the use of technology, online payment and use of emails for communication between the police, insurance companies and the tribunals dealing with such cases.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy issued a slew of directions for adoption as a uniform practice across the country.
Additional Solicitor General J K Sud sought some time for implementation of a suggestion for the central government to develop an online platform accessible to the tribunals, police authorities and insurers throughout the country.
However, the pan-India directions to make MACT rules more consumer friendly were issued following a report prepared by the law officer after discussion with all stakeholders and amicus curiae N Vijayraghavan and advocate Vipin Nair.
In its directions, the court said that the jurisdictional police station should report the accident to the Motor Accident Claims tribunal and insurer within first 48 hours either over email or a dedicated website.
After the accident, the police should collect and verify the relevant documents for computation of compensation. They should email the detailed accident report to the tribunal and the insurer within three months. Similarly, the claimants may also be permitted to email the application for compensation with supporting documents, to the tribunal and the insurer within the same period.
Afterwards, the tribunal would issue email summons to the insurer, which would again respond by email with proof of service on the claimants. After passing the award, the tribunal should email an authenticated copy to the insurer, which should satisfy the award by depositing the amount into a bank account maintained by the tribunal by RTGS or NEFT.
The court also directed the tribunal for maintaining a bank account for this purpose and record the relevant account details along with the directions for payment to the insurer in the award itself.
The bench put the matter for further directions on May 4, when the issue for pan-India mobile application or website for MACT claims could be dealt with.
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